Paris CDG Airport

My most recent experience with flying into and out of CDG with AF was complete misery. Our flight landed on time into CDG but apparently due to a few inches of snow everything at the airport was already backed up or not operating. We were warned before exiting the aircraft luggage handlers were very slow. With 4 hours before our connecting flight was scheduled to leave I mistakenly thought this would be plenty of time for our bags to reach the next flight. The connecting flight was inevitably delayed. The gate on our connecting flight was then moved to another terminal. We had to exit the terminal we were in and go through another security line in the re-assigned terminal with hundreds of other passengers. By late afternoon there was little food left at any of the terminal kiosks. 3 days later there is still no record of my bags ever being scanned by luggage handlers at CDG.

I am a frequent user of Paris CDG. It's the epitome of incompetence and poor customer service with Terminal 2 being the worst of the 3 terminals. Poor layout e.g. Terminal 2B with sealed departure lounges and no toilets. Confusing signage with unnecessary profusion of letters and numbers for sub-terminals check-in desk clusters etc. Lots of staff checking boarding passes and telling passengers where to queue but too few staff actually doing work to process passengers and reduce queue length e.g. often just one or two officers on Passport Control with hundreds of passengers waiting. On one occasion the queuing time at Passport Control was so long that a couple of people fainted. Inaccurate out of date flight information e.g. flights shown as being on time when the time is long passed. Limited food outlets given the volume of passengers but plenty of upmarket shops with unaffordable prices. Strikes by baggage handlers and even by the drivers who operate the runway buses. Overall CDG gives the impression of being run for the benefit of its employees rather than the passengers who pay their wages. You may not have a choice if you want to visit Paris but do try to avoid it as a hub for connecting flights if you can go elsewhere.

You could not make this up. This is also reviewing AF equally shocking. Delayed 12hrs coming into CDG due to snow on the ground. Arrived 1am and told that luggage staff went home so no luggage. Went outside and queued with over 100 people for 2 hours in -4 degrees weather for a taxi (at 1am). On return I tried to use website for luggage to no avail (lost luggage had also gone home). I spoke to some deeply unfriendly French AF staff who fist chided me for forgetting my luggage - then told me that 'of course you can't use website we haven't updated it yet because we are so busy'. Right now I don't know how or when I will get my luggage. This is not my first appalling experience here - I've missed two connections recently because of the high levels of efficiency of this airport. Words can not do justice to how utterly awful this airport and experience has been.

Without a doubt the worst hub in Europe. I have to use CDG 2-3 times per month. Big problems if you are not travelling on the Sky Team. Terminal 1 is a mess. Transfer time (including baggage claim) from terminal 1 (Star Alliance etc) and terminal 2 (Sky Team) can take up to 50 minutes with plenty of walking trains etc. Allow yourself at least 1 hr 45 mins if you need to catch a flight from different terminals. Due to heavy loads from AF flights most of the domestic flights require a long bus ride to the airplane. Catering is poor in terminal 1 and average at terminal 2. A bit of a mess to find the train station to Paris Centre. There is a TGV station in the airport. The only good thing is that they are pretty efficient on security with many gates and personnel. I wish I could avoid CDG but unfortunately this will not happen for the next 2 years at least.

The new M terminal at CDG accommodating the larger aircraft (i.e. Airbus 380) is marvellous. The queuing was organized and facilitated trouble-free boarding. Ground crew were professional and accommodating. I fly out of and return to LAX which is a nightmare - although the new extension in the Tom Bradley terminal is a big improvement at LAX. CDG has always been albeit a huge airport easy to navigate (but I understand the native language so I never felt lost or disoriented). Of course travelling each year helps me navigate my way practically with my eyes closed!

Never have been a fan of CDG and try to avoid it but as I had an award ticket with Air France I had little choice. Distances between gates are too big seating availability is limited staff not particularly friendly signage not always very clear. The only positive is that there were no queues at immigration. So I will keep avoiding CDG for as much as possible.

This is the worst airport I have ever flown to. Unfortunately I've had to use it a few times to get from Aberdeen to Pau and it just seems to get worse. First when you arrive you are taken by bus to the terminal building then have to queue for 30 mins to go through security as they only had 2 security gates open then another bus to get to another terminal building. Coming back from Pau took 3 separate bus journeys. One to get to 2G then another to get to 2E. A final bus trip took us to the plane which was parked in the same spot as where we taxied a few hours earlier! Avoid this airport at all cost!

I use to fly from and to CDG several times a year. I usually fly Air France and Skyteam and therefore enjoy very decent airport facilities (Terminals 2E 2F and 2G). I also fly BA and Easyjet quite often and their Terminals (2A and 2B) have also very much improved in the last years. However I flew Lufthansa last week and therefore used Terminal 1: what a disappointment! Everything is too small (check-in rooms terminals etc.) and orientation is a nightmare! Now I understand why some people hate CDG. This terminal simply ought to be fully re-built. I actually think CDG shouldn't be rated as a single airport but as 2 different ones as T1 and T2 are so discrepant. So my final grade is 7/10 as an average of: 4/10 for Terminal 1 (STAR ALLIANCE) 7/10 for Terminals 2A 2B 2C and 2D (ONEWORLD + EASYJET + EMIRATES) 10/10 for Terminals 2E 2F 2G and S3 & S4 (SKYTEAM).

I have already reviewed CDG a number of times but these people always manage to surprise me (although never in a positive way!). This time we landed at CDG coming from Hamburg. Everything seemed to work well and we went to a gateway (CDG is famous for having a high percentage of planes that load and unload by bus especially short and medium haul). The surprise came from the fact that we did a few meters on the gateway then were directed to use the stairs (very convenient with luggage not to speak of older people) down to where a bus was waiting for us. Then visited CDG for around 3 kms to the proper gate in what seemed to be a different terminal! Ridiculous is the right word.

Extremely rude incompetent and arrogant security staff. At the security check we asked for a hand/wand control of my pregnant wife instead of the metal detector and they refused although it is recommended from the CDC centre. Nobody speaks even passable English.